Islamists bankrolled by large-scale African drug-smuggling operation

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/16/islamist-groups-african-drug-smuggling-operation

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Islamist groups in northern Mali are paying local drivers to smuggle drugs and migrants across the desert for shipment to Europe, according to sources in Timbuktu.

Smuggling operations are the financial backbone of Islamist groups such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim). Their total territorial and economic control of the vast, hostile Sahara region is dwarfing the impact of western military efforts, despite dozens of French bombing raids and the deployment of close to 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers in Mali.

On Sunday, a new armed group calling itself the Caliphate Soldiers in Algeria (Jound al Khilafa fi Ard al Jazayer) announced it had split with Aqim and sworn loyalty to Islamic State (Isis), fighting in Syria and Iraq.

On the same day, a Chadian peacekeeper was killed and four others were injured when their patrol vehicle hit a remote-controlled device near Aguelhok, close to the Algerian border with northern Mali. He was the eighth peacekeeper to be killed since the end of June, following a surge of rocket, suicide bomb and landmine attacks, against nine during the entire first year of the UN deployment in Mali.

Other evidence also points to the emboldening of jihadist groups. More than 18 months after the start of French operations against Islamist insurgents in northern Mali, militant groups are offering young men monthly salaries of 300,000 CFA francs ($600, £370) – or 10 times Mali's minimum wage – to become jihadi fighters.

One driver of a 10-ton desert-going lorry in Timbuktu said he had been offered 7 million CFA to deliver 150kg of cocaine to Libya.

"You leave in a convoy of brand new fuel-injected petrol Toyota 4x4s, with extra fuel tanks," the driver explained. "You are given a Thuraya [satellite phone] and a Kalashnikov. The cocaine is in a spare tyre, in the driver's seat, and tucked between the fuel tanks."

South American cocaine is smuggled through the desert along several routes. In 2009, a burnt Boeing 727 was found in the desert near Gao in north-eastern Mali. "Air Cocaine" was reported to have carried up to 10 tons of cocaine.

"You travel in a convoy of up to 14 cars, and there are several routes," the driver confirmed. "The one I know about runs through Gao, Niger and Chad, to Libya. It is the same route that is used by Africans wanting to get on boats to Europe.

"As payment, you get to choose between keeping the car and 7 million CFA francs ($14,000). But it is dangerous, mainly because the drivers turn on each other."

The driver, whose identity is being withheld for his protection, said he began working the trans-Sahara run after tourists stopped coming to Timbuktu in 2011, due to kidnap fears. "The first 1,000km to the salt mines at Taoudenni take six days. There's me and a small crew of other blacks. The boss is always an Arab; after a further two days, we reach Algeria and he takes the wheel.

"If you get lost, which often happens after a sandstorm because you cannot see the stars, then the boss will most probably find his way. The Arabs can just touch the sand, dig a little and understand which is the right way to go.''

French troops have reported uncovering a number of "service stations" in the desert, after their positions were given away by informants. But the driver said any destroyed fuel stores are quickly replaced by others. "No one wants to run out of fuel in the desert – you would die of thirst."

The smuggling cartels appeal to Mali's general population by flooding markets with cut-price everyday items. In Timbuktu, Guardian reporters saw bootleg diesel, white goods, cigarettes, housewares, pasta, sugar, powdered milk and flour on sale in all markets at below-market prices.

Residents of the city, which has a 1,200-strong UN military and police force, say smuggling of all types is encouraged by Malian soldiers, gendarmes and officials who take bribes.

Nigerian brigadier general Koko Essien, who was sector commander until August, said: "The smuggling is a real worry. The cartels control the economy. Politically, the armed groups do not always agree – some are Islamic extremists, others not – but when it comes to business they work together. We worry that military hardware could be hidden in the trucks from Algeria and Mauritania."

But David Gressly, deputy special representative of the UN secretary general in Mali, said ending smuggling is not the job of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma). "Minusma focuses on stabilisation, including the protection of civilians and ceasefire monitoring. Counter-terrorism [and] drug interdiction is not in our mandate so that is not what we are going to do. Northern Mali needs development but that is going to take five, 10, 15 years," he said.

Talks are under way in Algiers between Mali's government and groups demanding self-rule for the north. But it seems unlikely that these will produce a package for everyone that is more appealing than illegal trade.

France recently moved its main base out of Mali, to Chad. As a result the UN has beefed up its presence with 450 Dutch special forces based in Gao, equipped with attack helicopters and unarmed drones. Sweden has pledged a similar 'elite' deployment for the UN in Timbuktu. But it will not be in place until February.